The Natural Resource Governance Institute has published an interesting paper examining the evidence for the sub-national resource curse, and finds mixed results. The paper identifies six main mechanisms for the sub-national resource curse – “mismanagement and corruption, conflicts, local price distortions, shifts in employment away from agriculture and manufactures, socio-environmental damages and degradation, and, finally, migration of workers in the extractive sector. …
Author: Goenchi Mati
Collection of reports on Goa mining
We’ve collated a set of reports on mining in Goa. These include the reports from the SC appointed expert committee on intergenerational equity, monitoring committee for e-auctions, Shah commission, CEC, PAC, EAC of MoEF, CEE / Gadgil, ISM Dhanbad, ERC India, Regional plan 2021, WGEEP (Gadgil), HLWG (Kasturirangan), Karnataka Lokayukta, NCAER and more.
Basic income book list
Scott Santens is maintaining a long list of books on Basic Income.
Swiss referendum & the UK
Indications are that the Swiss rejected the Basic Income referendum 4:1. Yet, this is not a defeat as Jim Pugh explains. Meanwhile, support for Basic Income is rising in the UK. The Green Party already had Basic Income in their general election manifesto. Heather Stewart reports in The Guardian that the Labour party is taking a look at this idea, with both John McDonnell, …
Poverty makes you stupid, cash makes you smarter
Rutger Bregman, the author of “Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-hour Workweek” shows how poverty is the primary cause of the behavioural problems of the poor, not the cause. The solution – cash. Read his article at the Medium.
Minerals – who are the beneficial owners
In an earlier post, we had discussed who owns minerals in India under the Constitution. In broad terms, state governments usually own onshore minerals, all offshore minerals are owned by the union government. There are two additional aspects of minerals to consider, the public trust doctrine and the intergenerational equity principle. The Public Trust Doctrine, an integral part of common law …
The psychology of work and Basic Income
Ezra Klien in the Vox has an interesting western perspective on Basic Income. I wonder if the same psychological dynamic plays out in India, or other societies in the developing world. It must be remembered that unemployment and underemployment is the norm here, full employment is merely a dream. Of course, a Citizen’s Dividend avoids these issues as it is a …
Permanent Fund model for Ethical Mining
CSDS (the Center for the Study of Developing Societies) conducted a seminar on “Permanent Fund Model for Ethical Mining: Lands, Livelihoods and Intergenerational Equity”. Held in partnership with Goa Foundation and Inclusive Media for Change, the seminar was held in India International Center, New Delhi on Feb 18 & 19, 2015. A detailed report on the discussions can be downloaded …
Scroll : Goa mining judgement is a first
A beautiful, albeit dated, summary by Mridula Chari of the unprecedented nature of the Goa mining judgement for we the people, our children, and our future generations. “Observing that natural resources belonged to the state, which is a trustee of its citizens, the court ordered that a part of the profits from the sale of iron ore be set aside for a permanent …
Who owns title to minerals in India?
Across the world, the sovereign / federal / union government usually owns title to all minerals. The big exception is the USA where land owners also own the minerals beneath the earth. Even there, the federal government owns 1/3rd of the land. For India though, it is a simple question with a complex answer. Under Article 297 of our Constitution, offshore minerals are …